The Villages Mark Morse pleads guilty to hunting without a license in Montana poaching case

4:09 p.m. EST, February 22, 2012|

By Eloísa Ruano González, Orlando Sentinel

Mark Morse, president and chief operating officer of the mammoth Villages retirement community northwest of Orlando, has been fined a total of $4,500 but avoided prison time in a highly publicized Montana poaching case, court officials said Wednesday.

Morse, 51, pleaded guilty to hunting without a license, according to the Montana Attorney General's office. Under plea agreements, state prosecutors dropped four felony charges against him for illegal possession of a game animal, each of which could have carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $50,000 fine. A second misdemeanor charge of hunting without a license was dropped, too.

The head of the retiree haven, population 85,000, appeared Tuesday in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties to deal with charges filed in November 2010. At the time, a Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks spokesman said Morse was accused of "shooting some really nice, big trophy animals."

The Yellowstone County plea bargain calls for Morse to pay a fine and restitution totaling $2,000 for hunting elk without a license in 2007, court officials said today. The Big Horn County agreement requires him to pay about $2,500 for hunting three buck mule deer in 2008 without a license, Clerk of Court Karen Yarlott-Molina said.

The grandson of The Villages founder risked losing his privilege to fish, hunt and trap in Big Sky Country.

"He'll keep his fishing and hunting license," said John Doran, a communications officer with the Montana Attorney General's office.

Morse was among eight people — including his daughter and wife — who faced charges after a wildlife investigation into big-game hunting violations. The allegations involved Morse family members, business partners and employees.

Two other defendants in the poaching case also received plea deals. On Tuesday, James Rainey and Lenard Powell pleaded guilty to hunting without a license in Big Horn County, Yarlott-Molina said. The state dropped felony charges, according to the plea agreement.

Rainey, owner of Rainey Construction in Wildwood, will have to pay $4,000 in fines and restitution for three buck mule deer he hunted in 2008, the clerk said. Powell, president of LPI Curb Service, a concrete-construction company that does work at The Villages, was fined about $2,000 for hunting two buck mule deer in 2008.

According to the Billings (Montana) Gazette, the state offered the plea deals after defense attorneys alleged in court records that state investigators committed fraud by lying under oath in court and deleting information in reports.

However, state prosecutors denied the allegations in the plea agreement.

"The state of Montana specially disagrees with the allegations of fact and allegation of violation of law and enters into this agreement as a tactical and professional decision," the agreement stated.

Kelsea Morse, the wealthy developer's daughter, pleaded guilty last year in Yellowstone County to hunting a turkey and bull elk without a proper license — incidents that happened on her father's M Square Ranch in 2007 and 2008, respectively. A judge deferred a six-month jail sentence and ordered her to pay more than $2,000 in fines and costs, Doran said. She got to keep her fishing and hunting license.

Last year, David Duncan, a hunting outfitter that sold licenses to the Morse family and friends, received a two-year deferred sentence, Doran said.

Richard "Rick" Staton, who ran Mark Morse's Wolf Mountain Ranch, was fined $1,000 last year for three misdemeanor hunting violations. He previously worked as a law-enforcement officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission from 1999 until 2008, when he retired, local wildlife officials said.

Another rancher manager, Toby Griffith, faced a felony charge for illegal possession of a game animal. However, the charge was dismissed last year, Doran said.